Fall SAVY 2018, Day 1 – Molecular Genetics (5th/6th)
Hello Molecular Genetics parents,
Today was the first day of your child’s adventure into how scientists study DNA. Today we delved into the structure and function of cells and the organelles that are within it. Don’t know what an organelle is? Ask your young scientist at dinner or before bed- they were all super stars in knowing the different organelles and what they did inside the cell. Another fun dinner discussion question- what’s the difference between plant and animal cells?
We zoomed even further into the cell after lunch and studied DNA! We discussed the parts and the structure of DNA. DNA has a very distinct shape called the double helix. Our young scientists explored what this looks like and diagrammed it as well. As our experiment for the day, we extracted DNA from strawberries. Don’t worry, there was no snacking! We know as scientists that no matter how yummy strawberries are that we don’t eat our experimental materials. We wrote hypotheses and predictions before starting the experiment, as well as analyzing our results and drawing observations. Your young scientist’s lab notebook will be full of information and observation sketches by the end of this week.
We also studied the Central Dogma of Biology. Don’t know what this is? Ask your scientist to explain the process! We played a science version of telephone to see what happens when mutations occur during transcription or translation.
I hope your child is as excited as I am to continue our learning experience about DNA and how it plays a part in all aspects of the human body.
See you Saturday!
Andrea
Playing a Game to Learn the Central Dogma of Biology
Our Plant and Animal Cell Diagrams
